COUNCIL tenants have been warned not to hand over cash to cold callers offering to repair storm damage.

On January 3, parts of Renfrewshire were left battered and bruised by breathtaking 91mph winds and freak gusts.

There was widespread damage to property and travel disruption as roads were closed, trees toppled dangerously and tiles ripped off buildings.

Now there have been reports of builders chancing their arm and turning up on Renfrewshire Council tenants’ doorsteps offering to carry out repairs.

Some rent payers have contacted the council’s Housing and Property Service, and Councillor Kenny MacLaren, housing spokesman, said: “Any repairs for council tenants are part of the service they receive through their rent, so they shouldn’t have to hand over money to any workmen at all.

“Thankfully, we’ve had several tenants reporting this to us, so we can warn others.”

So far, the council has dealt with more than 400 call-outs to deal with damage caused by the new year storm.

People were evacuated from their homes at the time of the high winds, schools were affected and millions of pounds worth of damage to buildings and cars was caused.

Education chiefs were forced to close sections of Renfrew High School, in Haining Road, because of structural damage caused by the winds.

Insurance experts estimated the clean-up bill for the region would run in to millions of pounds

Bank of Scotland Insurance alone received 1,000 calls from Paisley customers and hundreds more homes and commercial properties across Renfrewshire were battered.

Some individual claims were expected to be for tens of thousands of pounds.

Councillor MacLaren, added: “Since the start of the year we’ve been dealing with an unusually high number of repairs due to the new year storm.

“A priority system has been put in place to deal with all the remaining damage and we want to reassure our tenants that all reported damage will be repaired.”

Damage being fixed by the council includes damaged cladding, leaking roofs, missing slates and broken gutters and staff have been working round the clock to patch up people’s homes.

All damage already reported will be repaired.

Tenants who want to report damage, and who have not already done so, should call the council’s Customer Contact Centre on 0141 842 4444.